Munisteri explained that he has always been a supporter of Winner Take All. [Winner Take All – WTA — means that all 152 Texas Republican delegates would be awarded to the winner of the Texas Republican primary; proportional means that the number of delegates would be awarded proportionally among the various candidates.]

Munisteri said that Texas has the second most Republican delegates (second to California), more than 3 X the number from Florida, and 6 X more than the number from South Carolina. He believes if Texas moves to WTA that our state will stop being ignored as inconsequential and that Texas can play a big part in the final selection of our Presidential nominee.

Munisteri said it takes 15 of 62 SREC members to request an emergency meeting. He stated that he believes the SREC/WTA supporters already have the 15, but they are making sure they have a two-thirds majority before submitting their formal request to him to schedule the meeting. Munisteri believes there is already a majority of the SREC members who want WTA.

RPT Chair Munisteri said that if Santorum wins Pennsylvania, he has a good chance of conceivably winning seven more states in May (e.g., Arkansas, Kentucky, Texas, West Virginia, North Carolina).

Munisteri said the delegate count of 650 that is often stated by the media and the Romney camp is at least 100 delegates too high because they are using projections from caucuses instead of actual selected delegates.

Because Romney has refused to participate in the Texas Presidential candidate debate, Munisteri believes this is what has upset Texas voters and has prompted the push for WTA.

Munisteri reminded the listening audience that in 2008, Obama and Hillary battled it out until June before settling on Obama. In 1976 the choice of Ronald Reagan as the Republican nominee went right down to the final vote on the convention floor.

Chairman Munisteri said that even though states had to submit their rules to the Republican National Committee back in October 1, 2011, a waiver from those rules could be sought by vote of the RNC Executive Committee.

Munisteri went on to explain that it was the RNC that forced Texas to move to proportional from its previous delegate hybrid plan because the RNC wanted to punish Texas for scheduling its primaries in March. However, now that our primaries have been moved back to May 29, he believes it is fair to move our state back to its original rules. He explained that there can always be a floor fight at the National Convention to challenge the RNC’s credentials or rules committee; a successful challenge would mean the entire Texas delegation could be seated.

The Texas Republican convention process is now underway. Please do not let this opportunity pass you by. Some counties are holding precinct conventions and others are not. Attending the precinct convention is the first step in the convention process so it is important for you to attend.

Most counties are bypassing the precinct conventions and holding either the Senatorial District Convention (larger urban areas) or County Convention either on Saturday, April 14 or Saturday, April 21.

It is important that many of you become delegates to the Republican Party of Texas Convention in Fort Worth, June 7-9, 2012, so you must participate in the earlier processes in order to qualify to become a delegate.